The Connection Between Job Design and Employee Motivation

Select two obstacles and propose a method to overcome the obstacles with a focus on increasing employee job satisfaction. The two I chosen are complications from individual differences and creating new jobs as part of growth or downsizing

Then, select an opportunity and apply the opportunity to your current or former workplace and indicate how opportunity would enhance the workplace. Then, determine if the effort is justified. I chose the opportunity for creating new jobs as part of growth or downsizing.

Please visit the SHRM Website and refer to the article titled "Work Redesign: Eight Obstacles and Opportunities," located at
http://www.shrm.org/Education/hreducation/Documents/44-4%20Campion%20et%20al.pdf.

Please add references if possible.

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Part 1:
Obstacle: Individual differences complicate job design
In essence, incorporating standardization into the job design process and output will help minimize the impact of individual differences. This is illustrated in the method steps below:
1. A set of competencies required for the job as well as the Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs) must be defined prior to the job design process. This will help address job design in three ways:
a. It can help avoid the issue of individual differences causing deviations in the expected job output
b. It can serve as the guideline to select the appropriate employee who has the capability to undertake the job
c. It can help employees address any competency gaps and remain focused on the output
2. If possible, job design must be carried out by a team of individuals having varied ethnicities, competencies, demographic profiles etc. in order to avoid any particular preferences being built into the job design.
3. In order for the job design to be stimulating and challenging, the following can be kept in mind:
a. The impact of the job on the organization and the community at large must be well documented so as to enable employees to relate their work to the larger picture and overcome their individual preferences and biases
b. Feedback can be sought from employees who have ...

Solution Summary

The article describes methods for overcoming individual differences between employees for job design and new job designs for phases of growth and downsizing.